Voucher Spending Frenzy

People flocked to MTR stations to collect their Octopus subsidy

 

Finally we can start spending the first installment of our HK$5,000 (US$643) voucher!

Those who registered with Octopus get their HK$2,000 today and many headed to the MTR station to collected the subsidy.

Others who registered with AliPay, Wechat Pay HK, and Tap & Go also received their HK$2,000.

And according to media reports people immediately started spending that free money -- well their own taxpayer money -- on everything from food to clothes, electronic gadgets and Rolex watches.

Chan says HK$30 billion will be spent in HK

Some even pooled their vouchers to buy refrigerators or HK$2,600 worth of food at a supermarket.

Sounds like people are dying to shop which is strange considering last year the government gave out HK$10,000 in cash. There was hardly a frenzy to use the money then...

Nevertheless, the government is hoping the extra HK$30 billion floating around Hong Kong will stimulate the economy and get people to spend -- they have to use it all in order to get the next installment.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also gave another reason for the vouchers. 

"We also hope the vouchers can promote the trend of electronic payments... We believe overall, the vouchers will have a positive impact. Its concrete impact will be reviewed after the scheme has been rolled out," he said today.

The government may want to use this as a way to track people's spending and see where their money is going...

Lam spent a whopping HK$2,000 on apples today

About 5.5 million people or 75 percent of the population are eligible to register for the voucher if they registered before July 17.

It's interesting to note that today Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor posted on Facebook a picture of her at a supermarket called U-Select where she said she spent HK$2,000 on buying 200 apples for a local sports event.

Aside from her comment that, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" alludes to Apple Daily, does she know she was ripped off paying HK$10 per apple?

 

China Shuts Down LGBTQ Online Community

Cartoon by @badiucao of Xi destroying the pride rainbow...

 

The space for LGBTQ groups in China is shrinking rapidly with now Tencent deleting the accounts of LGBTQ student groups on WeChat, claiming they had broken rules on information on the internet, making it harder for them to connect virtually.

Several LGBTQ groups were blocked from accessing their accounts on Tuesday and now they have found the accounts have been deleted.

Tencent shut down LGBTQ accounts in China

"They censored us without any warning. All of us have been wiped out," said the account manager of one group who asked not to be identified. 

When attempting to access some of the groups, a message says the group "had violated regulations on the management of accounts offering public information service on the Chinese internet", while others didn't show up in search results.

This latest development is part of a series of actions to shut down LGBTQ groups and events.

In past years Pride Month was celebrated openly in China in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

But last August China's biggest and longest-running LGBTQ festival, Shanghai Pride, was cancelled due to pressure from local authorities. This year even fewer events were held, some underground.

"Every year it becomes more and more challenging," one Chinese LGBTQ artist was quoted by CNN. "Events are fewer and advocates are finding it more and more difficult to raise acceptance."

Pride in Shanghai used to be openly celebrated

There were hopes that there would be greater acceptance of LGBTQ in society and the government after homosexuality was decriminalized in 1997 and in 2001 was removed from the official list of mental disorders.

However it looks like there is a crackdown from above to prevent the numbers of LGBTQ increasing since Beijing is desperate for more heterosexuals to get married and have three children. That can't happen if there's a growing LGBTQ population.

With it now being increasingly a taboo subject, it will be harder for those who have just accepted their sexuality or to find a community to reach out to for advice and support.

Hongkongers Sign up for HK$5K Vouchers

Some 1.55 million Hongkongers have signed up for vouchers

 

Today is the first day Hong Kong residents can sign up for the HK$5,000 (US$644) voucher and already 1.55 million people have done so.

People can sign up using an iAM Smart app, or not, and I chose the latter online. I was asked for my Hong Kong ID number, phone number and then choose which of the four payment platforms (Octopus, WeChat Pay HK, AlipayHK or Tap & Go) to have the money deposited in. 

It is to encourage people to use digital payment

If people sign up in the next two weeks, they can get their first monetary installment on August 1. There is a list of regulations of how the money is to be used -- for buying items or eating out, but not for paying government or hospital bills, or even for donating to charity, which is what some people did when they received the HK$10,000 cash last year.

The use of the electronic payments is also to push people to become more digital in their transactions, as Hong Kong is lagging behind China when it comes to electronic payments especially on phones.

Permanent residents and recent migrants from the mainland are eligible for the scheme.

Some people are cautious about how they are going to spend their money on their Octopus card that they are even getting an extra one just to use to get the HK$5,000. It seems excessive to be concerned the government won't give them the exact amount, or they want to be sure they have spent all the money first before getting the second installment -- but that's what the technology on the card will be tracking. People cannot get the next installment unless they have used up the previous one.

Businesses will also get in on enabling Octopus payments. What would really help would be for wet market stalls to enable Octopus payment,s as well as more taxis. I just think it would be amusing to go to a fine dining restaurant and pay the bill using an Octopus card. 

Imagine using your Octopus card at Gaddi's

Meanwhile some restaurants will start a scheme on July 15 to offer special discounts of 30 percent to those who are fully vaccinated in a bid to encourage more people to get the jab.

Executive councillor and lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan is the representative of the food and beverage sector and is coordinating the scheme. He hopes to convince many of the 16,000 restaurants in Hong Kong to take part.

"For restaurants, 30 percent discount is really a big offer and means they can't make any profit," he said. "But we just hope to set the momentum to attract more patrons to return to the dining scene."

The campaign, which runs until the end of August, will offer a 30 percent discount to groups of at least four people who are vaccinated.  

"This summer Hongkongers are still unable to travel overseas, so we expect they will spend a lot on dining," Cheung said, adding restaurants hope to benefit from the HK$5,000 voucher scheme.

More discounts for vaccinated diners

The list of participating restaurants will be posted online before July 15 and will be heavily promoted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Hong Kong and China Gas Company.

Maybe after that the gyms will offer promotions on losing weight from all that eating...

 

 

Inching Closer to $5K Handout

Chan warns people to use the handout only for local spending

 

The countdown begins to register for the HK$5,000 handout on July 4, but Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po warns people not to try to find ways to put that money into their bank accounts, that the money is specifically for local spending.

Permanent residents over 18 years of age can choose to have the money that is distributed in installments to be deposited into one of four payment platforms: Octopus, AliPay HK, WeChat Pay HK, and Tap & Go. 

Money will be deposited in 4 payment platforms

Those opting for Octopus will have their money given out in three payments of HK$2,000, HK$2,000 and HK$1,000, while the other three will have two installments of HK$2,000 and then HK$3,000.

Chan warned if merchants were found to conspire with consumers to cash in the vouchers would be blacklisted and dealt with by the relevant authorities.

"If a merchant that used to have small-sum transactions is found to have large-sum and unusual transactions, we may blacklist them if appropriate so they can no longer join this scheme," Chan said. "If there are elements of conspiracy and fraud, we won't rule out taking law enforcement action."

The HK$5,000 is meant to be used within a five-month period for shopping, dining and transport.

It won't be difficult for the average Hongkonger to use this money for everyday spending. This is HK$5,000 less they need to spend of their own savings for necessities. Instead it will be the credit cards and banks that will be hurting for a few months as people won't be using credit cards and cash as much. 

Registration begins on July 4 for Aug 1 payment

And HK$5,000 to be used within five months isn't a gob of money. For Chan to warn people to only use it for personal spending is ludicrous. What else are they going to use it for, since you must use up the money before getting the next installment.

Kiss those HK$5,000 Gucci sneakers goodbye.

It's not like Chan has given everyone HK$10,000 like last year. 

So while the intention is to encourage people to spend in local shops, it will only be those merchants who accept electronic payments that will win out. And for sure the supermarket chains will benefit the most. 

Can you imagine going to a fine dining restaurant to doot your bill?

Paul Chan Improves e-Voucher Scheme

Chan says he listened to feedback and tweaked the handout

Remember the Hong Kong government decided to give every permanent resident HK$5,000 (US$644) -- but in installments of HK$1,000 e-vouchers? And they had to be used up first before the next batch was handed out?

There will be fewer installments for the e-voucher

But after listening to public feedback, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has gone back to the drawing board and revised the parameters of the HK$5,000 handout in a bid to stimulate the local economy.

He promised more flexibility, with registration for the e-vouchers beginning in the summer (which is literally around the corner), and the electronic handout would start in August and would be valid until the Lunar New Year.

The e-vouchers will benefit 7.2 million people and cost the government (or us taxpayers) HK$36 billion, of which HK$600 million will be for administrative costs.

That's a whopping amount for the latter if everyone gets their money through either Octopus, AlipayHK, Tap & Go, or WeChat Pay HK.

Will wet markets finally accept digital payment?

And what's everyone going to spend this HK$5,000 on?

It'll be interesting to see if this e-voucher exercise really does help local businesses, especially wet market vendors who don't accept any kind of electronic payments. Will this actually push them to move in this direction? Or are the big supermarket chains going to laugh all the way to the bank (again)?

 

National Security Law Hotline is Red Hot

The police force has launched its new hotline on the NSL

 

It's here! The new hotline to give the police tips on anyone who may have violated the national security law is up and running as of today, and by 6pm, the force had already received more than 1,000 pieces of information.

The WeChat hotline had technical glitches today

Members of the public can use either SMS, email or WeChat to give the police any tips, such as photos, audio and video clips. The force has also set up a new account on Twitter and added such hashtags as #WeCanHelp, #YouCanHelp, and #SaveHK.

The hotline only deals with national security law-related offenses, such as collusion with foreign forces, terrorism, secession and subversion.

Opposition lawmakers say the hotline will have a chilling effect on society and only create more distrust in the community.

The Democratic Party's Lam Cheuk-ting described it as "Cultural Revolution 2.0", where people can snitch on others for being less than patriotic.

"Nowadays, Hongkongers already have the feeling that one can easily get blamed for whatever one does, and that one can easily step on a political landmine," he said. "The hotline will only intensify the chilling effect in the society."

Lam says the hotline is "Cultural Revolution 2.0"

It is somewhat amusing the hotline on WeChat was plagued by technical issues. One reporter tried to use it only to encounter many difficulties and in the end received messages saying "Too many attempts. Try again later."

So far 22 men and six women have been charged under the new law that was enacted over four months ago.

Xi's Orchestrated Visit to Wuhan

President Xi Jinping paid a visit to Wuhan today

The big news today, other than Italy going into complete lockdown?

Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province. The city has been under severe lockdown since January 23, two days before the Spring Festival.

【習近平在武漢考察疫情防控工作】今天，習近平深入武漢社區，看望居民群眾和防控一線工作人員。 （視頻：央視新聞） pic.twitter.com/FLUmP37ASF

— 人民日報 People's Daily (@PDChinese) March 10, 2020

 

Donning a mask but no gloves, Xi waved to people quarantined in their apartment blocks -- with security officers in hazmat suits in their flats to make sure they would not shout out negative things to the president, like what happened a few days earlier when local officials walked through and a woman shouted "Fake! Everything is fake!"
    
That video clip went viral on social media.

Security officials hanging out with residents where Xi was

But here Xi praised Hubei and Wuhan for containing the coronavirus and suggested that victory was in sight. And in the meantime he urged continued vigilance and all-out efforts to defeat the epidemic.

He also visited Huashenshan Hospital via video link to frontline health care workers and patients. So while the numbers of new cases have gone done considerably, Xi isn't risking his health quite yet and doing some intense social distancing. Or maybe local officials wanted to show off the grandeur of the ballroom or the technological advances in video links?

Nevertheless, he thanked doctors and nurses for their hard work. "You're radiant emissaries of hope, essentially the most lovely of angels, and true-blue heroes."

The propaganda machines were working overtime today, with state media following Xi's every move, and the message now is: "The Party and all Chinese people are grateful to Wuhan people".

Xi talking to medical staff and patients via video link

This is apparently a 180-degree turn from a few days ago when Wuhan party chief Wang Zhonglin proposed an "extensive gratitude education campaign".

According to Changjiang River Daily, Wang made the suggestion at a meeting about the coronavirus on Friday.

"[We must] be grateful for the general secretary [Xi] and the Communist Party," he said. "[We must] listen to the party, follow the party."

People online were outraged that Wang expected people to be grateful, as they had paid a heavy price for the complete lockdown of the city.

The red circles show where security officers were positioned

"The government should put an end to its arrogance and humbly express gratitude to its master -- millions of people in Wuhan," wrote Fang Fang, a Wuhan-based writer, in an article posted on WeChat.

One piece of silver lining in Xi's visit was that the stock market reacted positively -- the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.8 percent, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 1.4 percent.

Nonetheless, it seems not everyone was buoyed by Xi's Wuhan trip. On WeChat some users mocked his visit by sharing a video of a scene from a TV drama about Qing emperor Kangxi, where courtiers advised the emperor he should only personally lead troops into battle when final victory is all but assured...

China's Propaganda Machine in Overdrive

Medical staff in full suits looking after coronavirus patients in Wuhan

The Chinese government is anxious to show it is doing everything to battle the coronavirus, which means all hands on deck in the propaganda department.

There are video clips of mostly men who are seen dashing into police stations or government offices and dropping off boxes of masks or lots of cash and then running away.

It's meant to show people's selflessness, that they are willing to give away their life savings to the authorities to fight the coronavirus. If they ran away, how would they know all these details? Or maybe these people just robbed a bank beforehand?



The first video seemed shocking but sweet, but now there are about 41 different video clips which makes them even more staged. Why would so many people run into a police station or government office, dump bricks of cash on the counter and then run off again? It boggles the mind.

Then today CCTV has a clip of apparently two nurses decked out in full hazmat gear complete with plastic shields and blue suits yellow shoe covers in a coordinated dance outside of the hospital. Apparently they were trying to make light of the situation and enjoying a fun moment.



Really? From the clips I've seen of nurses having mental breakdowns, them dancing like children is completely off the wall and ridiculous. It's so obvious this clip was begging for sympathy.

But then there are uncomfortable video clips of more than a dozen nurses in Gansu province having their heads shaved, calling them "the most beautiful warriors!" in a bid to show their devotion to fighting the coronavirus. These women are crying, which seems to indicate they were coerced into doing this. Why didn't the men go bald too?



And there are horrific stories of nurses being forced to take birth control pills so they wouldn't menstruate (as going to the bathroom would be too much trouble), and they were chastised for asking for sanitary pads and tampons, saying they "lacked the spirit of devotion".

While the propaganda army was hoping these clips of the nurses would make the public sympathize with them, it actually enraged people that the women were being treated this way and vented their wrath online.

Young people in particular have had enough of the propaganda machine, as they can access a lot of information and clips via WeChat or going over the Great Firewall to see what people outside of China are saying about the coronavirus in their own country.

People are still very angry about Dr Li's Wenliang's death

They were particularly angry following the death of Dr Li Wenliang, who tried to warn his former classmates about the coronavirus, and were angry that the police accused him of spreading rumours.

"In the past month, many young people have been reading a lot of firsthand information and in-depth media reports about the epidemic on the internet," says Stephanie Xia, a 26-year-old in Shanghai in The New York Times. She says they are angry and confused about what they learned.

"There's some gap between what the young people are really like and what the government believes what they're like," Xia adds.

For young people today, this coronavirus and how they experienced it is much like other seminal events, like the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the Wenzhou train crash in 2011, the downfall of Bo Xilai in 2013.

How China's next generation is influenced by how they went through this year's coronavirus crisis will forever shape their perceptions of the Communist Party of China and their trust in the government.

One gets the feeling it's not going to be very solid...

Where is Chen Qiushi?

A screenshot of Chen Qiushi in Wuhan to document the coronavirus there

People who have been following lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi are asking where he is.

In the last few days he has been missing and now he has been "quarantined" but no one knows where.

Some may remember the Qingdao native who came to Hong Kong in August to report on the anti-government protests. He made videos of the protests and posted them on YouTube, challenging state media reports that claimed all the protesters were rioters and separatists.

In August he was in Hong Kong

Instead Chen said most of them were peaceful. "Not all of them are rioters," the 34-year-old said in one of his videos.

He was summoned back to Beijing, and after he returned, he was harassed and silenced by the authorities. His social media accounts, including Weibo that had 740,000 followers, were deleted.

But he vowed to continue to speak out.

When news of the epicentre of the coronavirus was in Wuhan, Chen got on a train on Chinese New Year eve to go there and report what was happening. He promised he would tell the truth, that he would not spread rumours, that he would try to protect himself from the coronavirus the best he could, and he would not leave Wuhan if he caught the virus.

He made videos interviewing people who were sick and desperate for a hospital bed, he interviewed nurses and doctors, one of whom confirmed there were corpses in the hospital hallways covered in sheets but they didn't know if they had died of the coronavirus. He also saw the unsanitary conditions in the hospitals with used gloves, masks and vomit everywhere.

He posted videos, talking about corpses in hospital hallways

At the same time he had to watch his back with the authorities knowing he was there and didn't want him out reporting on his own. They forced him to move out of his hostel, his WeChat account would be blocked if he posted another video on the app.

And now Chen has been missing since February 6. His friend posted a video of Chen's mother the following day, saying her son had disappeared.

"I'm here to beg everyone online, especially friends in Wuhan to help find Qiushi, find out what's going on with him," she said.

Then later that evening Xu Xiaodong, a well-known mixed martial artist, posted a video saying that Chen had been forced into quarantine.

"In the last few hours the Qingdao public security officers and state security officers... notified Qiushi's parents that Qiushi has already been detained in the name of quarantine. Qiushi's' mother immediately asked them where and when he was taken away, they declined to say," said Xu.

Chen (left) with friend and MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong

Xu stressed that in his conversations with Chen, he was in good health before he disappeared.

Chen's friends worry about him, but also that he might be infected with the virus.

Are people looking for him? Will he be found? As some have said online, we cannot have another Li Wenliang...

Remembering Dr Li Wenliang

Dr Li Wenliang was infected with the new "SARS-like virus"

This morning we hard the news that Li Wenliang, the doctor who was one of the first to warn about a "new SARS virus" died. He was only 34 years old.

Pictures like these flooded social media

Mainland Chinese were devastated by the announcement and immediately declared Li a hero; they directed their anger at the government for punishing him for telling the truth. The national grief is similar to that of the Wenzhou train crash in July 2011. Two high-speed trains collided, killing 40 people, and a proper investigation was never conducted, and even one of the train cars was buried to prevent further inquiry.

A friend living in Beijing told me his WeChat account went berserk from 2am with messages of anger, grief, sadness and frustration. The people mourning Li's death related to him, a 34-year-old, married with a child and another due in June.

He was not challenging the state -- all the ophthalmologist was trying to do was warn his medical school classmates to be careful about this serious SARS-like virus in a post on his WeChat.

On January 3, the authorities accused Li and seven others of spreading rumours, and forced him to write a statement admitting to "illegal behaviour".

In the statement, it asks Li: "Can you stop your illegal behaviour?" and "Do you understand you'll be punished if you don't stop such behaviour?"

He wrote in response: "I can". "I understand".

Li's statement he had to sign

After his death, people wrote on their surgical masks : "我能" "我明白" and posted pictures of themselves wearing the masks as a way to mourn Li.

The hashtags #we want freedom of speech#, "#I want freedom of speech#" and "#Wuhan government owes Dr Li an apology#" were created on Weibo and viewed some 2 million times before being shut down around 5am.

People felt that if Li wasn't punished and the authorities took his post seriously, then we would not have over 30,000 confirmed cases now and over 600 deaths, mostly in Wuhan, Hubei province.

The central government, now trying to appease people, is sending a team from the dreaded National Supervisory Commission that typically looks into corruption to investigate Li's death.

But we all know what happened. Li posted his statement complete with his thumbprint on it. How much more can Beijing cover up or deny?

A mournful farewell for Li Wenliang in the snow

Tonight there was a quickly organized memorial for Li at Chater Garden in Hong Kong. Only a handful of people came out to the event that where pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk-yan gave a speech criticizing President Xi Jinping as well as Chief Executive Carrie Lam for not moving fast enough to contain the coronavirus.

People held white chrysanthemum flowers before a portrait of Li.

It's a pity not more people came out, but maybe some worried about too many people showing up or they didn't know about the protest vigil at all.

In an interview with The New York Times days before he died, Li said: "If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier, I think it would have been a lot better. There should be more openness and transparency."

In Hong Kong a small protest vigil for the ophthalmologist

When asked how Li felt about the police accusing him of spreading rumours, he replied: "The police believed the virus was not confirmed to be SARS. They believed I was spreading rumours. They asked me to acknowledge that I was at fault.

"I felt I was being wronged, but I had to accept it," he continued. "Obviously I had been acting out of good will. I felt very sad seeing so many people losing their loved ones."

Li believed he would get better within two weeks and then rejoin his colleagues in treating patients.

Alas that was not to be.

Fake Job Hunters Wanted

Some 200 to 300 people in this room are pretending to want a job

It looks like hongbaos or red envelopes in China, have arrived in Hong Kong.

A recent job fair organized by the government of Ningbo promoted 820 positions with annual salaries as high as 3 million yuan (US$432,000) were apparently available.

The event was held at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, where 51 recruiters, from universities research institutes, state-owned enterprises, private companies and NGOs were looking for people from Hong Kong to fill the positions.

The job fair was organized by the Ningbo government

The Ningbo Human Resources Service Centre that organized the event, is a public institution under the Ningbo human resources authorities, and the job fair was arranged with support from the Beijing Liaison Office in Hong Kong, and Ningxing Group, which is the Ningbo government's investment vehicle.

Five days before the event, an advertisement was circulated on WeChat, which was looking to hire part-time actors to make the job fair look well attended.

"You need to prepare a resume and wait for an interview, which will be conducted for appearance sake," the advert said.

"Salary of HK$200 will be paid at the scene. Only nine places are left now. Add me [as a friend on WeChat] if you are interested. I will put you into a chat group."

A Hong Kong-based reporter went undercover to sign up, and was recruited as an "actor", but on the day of the fair was told there was enough people and didn't need to take part. The reporter still got the HK$200 -- easy money for just showing up! -- which was then donated to a charity.

Having fake job hunters helped boost attendance numbers

At the fair, the recruiter told the reporter there were 200 to 300 people paid to be there. She also said the liaison office and Ningxing Group were not involved in finding part-time actors.

"Unemployment rate in Hong Kong is so low. It's unlikely for such a recruitment fair to be popular here. But every government has its performance goals," the recruiter said.

"There are some companies paying money to hire people to fill the room and make it a lively scene. In return, they will have a better relationship with the Ningbo government when they do business there," she said, adding nothing illegal was taking place.

Meanwhile after the event, some people were seen receiving HK$200 each from a man who was standing across from the hotel in a park.

Some of the companies were contacted to ask if they knew some of the applicants were fake, but they were not aware -- except one noticed it was strange that one woman wanted to take a picture while she was being interviewed...

Sound familiar back on the mainland? It's not unusual for companies to hand out hongbaos as "transportation allowances", but in Hong Kong?

Perhaps someone needs to explain to the Ningbo Human Resources Service Centre that Hong Kong operates under "one country, two systems", and the latter part means no hongbaos!

Two Sessions in Gobbledygook

The Two Sessions, the annual political meeting is on now in Beijing

China's big political event, 两会 or "the Two Sessions" annual meeting is on, and I can't keep track of all the new legislation that's coming down, but a relative told me on a recent trip to Guangzhou that online monitoring was so tight that the couldn't even use WeChat to communicate with their relatives to arrange when to meet up.

They had to resort to either calling their phone number, or SMS... Seems like an aim to inconvenience over a billion people for a few days...

But perhaps the biggest irony is a propaganda rap song about the Two Sessions released by Xinhua news agency. The song that runs 4:48 was composed by rapper Su Han who became famous from being on the reality show Sing! China.



His song, called "Two Sessions", is a total cringe fest because the lyrics are utterly grammatically incorrect and Su seems to have looked up a lot of words in the thesaurus and tried to use bigger words to sound more sophisticated. However it has the opposite effect in showing he does not know exactly what the word means.

For example one line says: "Eject all the rapaciousness like shaking of nephrolithiasis".

Rapper Su Han singing his heart out in unintelligible English

What?

The chorus is also mind-boggling: "We've got two sessions, we've got two sessions/ For the fragrance we're blessing, to the world we show our affection."

Yeah, OK...

Or how about: "See the Larch rolling miles upon miles/ when we meet satisfied Popeye".

What does Popeye have to do with China?

And the song keeps going for over four minutes without making any kind of sense.

Who put Su up to this? And what was his time line? Did they ask him to write it in a day?

Perhaps the most ironic thing is that the Chinese government is wary of hip hop, and while there is no full ban in place, since last year it has been considered not to be politically correct to be associated with that genre of music.

How does this hip hop song make China cool?

Why then, has the government released this atrocious song in the style of hip hop?

It probably thought co-opting hip hop it would make the authorities sound cool to the younger generation, but it's kind of like once your parents like what you like, you move onto something else...

Meng Wanzhou's Life in a Bubble

Sabrina Meng Wanzhou was released Monday evening in Vancouver

A judge in Vancouver has granted bail to Huawei Technologies executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou. She had to pay CAD$7 million in cash, CAD$3 million surety made up of properties from four associates.

As part of her bail conditions, she has to stay at home on West 28th Avenue everyday from 11pm to 6am and must be monitored 24-hours a day with a security entourage and electronic ankle bracelet.

She will be staying in her home in the west side of Vancouver

She must also surrender her passports and can travel within Vancouver, the North Shore and parts of Richmond except the airport.

After she was released, she sent out a message on WeChat: "I am in Vancouver and back with my family. I am proud of Huawei, I am proud of my country. Thank you everyone who is concerned about my situation."

No doubt the local media will be camping out near her home everyday to monitor her too... it's attention she might have to get used to...

Beijing Not Completely Cashless

It's so easy to buy things with your phone -- if you have WeChat Pay or AliPay

Last year I had a heck of a time buying things in cash when I visited Beijing because I didn't have WeChat Pay or AliPay. I remember going to JNBY, a domestic fashion brand and buying a dress there at their outlet in Sanlitun Village, and having to give exact change because they didn't have any cash whatsoever.

You can even take the subway by using your smartphone

But this time paying in cash was not a problem. It turns out in July, China's central bank issued a directive that the yuan was the country's legal currency and no units or individuals should refuse payment in cash.

During this trip some places would ask if we would pay by Weixin (WeChat) or cash, and we'd reply the latter; otherwise they would just accept cash no problem.

In subway stations you had to add money into the card using a machine instead of asking the person in the ticket booth to do it for you. However, at Beijing Capital International Airport (T3), the person there will help you add money to your card with cash.

Some people don't even use the Beijing subway card to ride the metro -- they use an app on their phone that they scan at the turnstile. 

There were only two instances where we had a slight problem -- two restaurants I went to expected us to order our food using WeChat. In one case my friend who lives in Beijing did the ordering (and paying) on WeChat at Beijing WTown -- in Miyun district, way outside of Beijing!

But getting a McFlurry required cold, hard cash

But in the other instance at a dumpling shop in a shopping mall in Wudaokou, we told them we didn't have WeChat so they took our order using a little handheld device and we paid in cash.

And then late one night my friend had a craving for a McFlurry -- even though we had just eaten a full-on dinner -- and made a pit stop at McDonald's near our hotel.

The thing is, their electronic payment system wasn't working so people had to pay in cash! They had to turn away several customers who only had money in their smartphones...
 

Eradicating a "Mental Illness"

Uighurs coming out of Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang

 The Chinese government is spinning the incarceration of Uighurs in detention centres in Xinjiang,  saying their belief in Islam needs to be treated as a mental illness. As a result they need to be treated multiple times, not just once, and for months at a time.

That's the latest report from The Atlantic, that also says some one million people are being sent to these "reeducation camps" where they are forced to sing propaganda songs and learn Mandarin, and some media reports have even talked about forcing these ethnic minority Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol.

While the authorities describe the camps are "schools", they are also being described as "hospitals".

Women waking down the street in Kashgar

In a WeChat message to Uighurs, an excerpt of an official Communist Party audio recording says:

Members of the public who have been chosen for reeducation have been infected by an ideological illness. They have been infected with religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology, and therefore they must seek treatment from a hospital as an inpatient... The religious extremist ideology is a type of poisonous medicine, which confuses the mind of the people... If we do not eradicate religious extremism at its roots, the violent terrorist incidents will grow and spread all over like an incurable malignant tumour.

Sounds serious doesn't it? Except the message is making assumptions about people's devotion to their religion.

By calling religious extremism an "ideological illness", it gives the government (in its mind) the moral authority to lock people up for months at a time, and as many as it warrants is necessary.

Police officers have confirmed to Radio Free Asia that they have been ordered to meet specific population quotas in rounding up people for these camps. In one township, 40 percent of the local population was locked up.

"It's being treated as a mental illness that's never guaranteed to be completely cured, like addiction or depression," says Timothy Grose, a China expert at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. "There's something mentally wrong that needs to be diagnosed, treated -- and followed up with."

The above mentioned recording from the Communist Party justifies the need for continual treatment:

There is always a risk that the illness will manifest itself at any moment, which would cause serious harm to the public. that is why they must be admitted to a reeducation hospital in time to treat and cleanse the virus from their brain and restore their normal mind... Being infected by religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology and not seeking treatment is like being infected by a disease that has not been treated in time, or like taking toxic drugs... There is no guarantee that it will not trigger and affect you in the future.

There are intimidating police patrols around Xinjiang

Having gone through reeducation and recovered form the ideological disease doesn't mean that one is permanently cured... So, after completing the reeducation process in the hospital and returning home... they must remain vigilant, empower themselves with the correct knowledge, strengthen their ideological studies, and actively attend various public activities to bolster their immune system.

Adrian Zenz, a researcher at the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany equates what is going on in Xinjiang with how the government dealt with Falun Gong practitioners in the early 2000s by reeducating them in labour camps.

"Falun Gong was also treated like a dangerous addiction... But in Xinjiang this [rhetoric] is certainly being pushed to the next level," he says. "The explicit link with the addictive effect of religion is being emphasized possibly in an unprecedented way."

US-based Uighur academic from Xinjiang Tahir Imin isn't surprised by the government equating Islam with mental illness. He believes this is the authorities' way of eradicating ethnic Muslim minorities and forcing them to assimilate with the Han Chinese.

In the end this is the government's way of dealing with extremists -- by eradicating what it thinks is religious extremism through extreme power.

Silk Road: Kashgar Surgery a Success

Uyghurs sit in chairs waiting for the blue doors to open

We had been told my dad's surgery was scheduled in the morning so we had planned to go after he woke up. But at 11am, I got a frantic message from our tour guide, saying we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible to sign another form.

Hadn't my aunt done that already I asked? The guide, who was there when she signed a bunch of papers -- including one promising not to give hongbao to the doctor -- said apparently there was one more to sign, regarding the anesthetic and the risks because of my dad's age.

My mom and I rushed over there, but were bogged down by security -- we had to go through the routine of showing our passports and having our bags scanned, and then figuring out where the surgery room was. All we knew was that it was on the third floor. We asked some hospital staff but even they weren't sure. How could that be?

The line for the elevator was long, so we decided to take the stairs. Once we got there, we saw a room full of Uyghurs, young and old waiting for their loved ones to come out of the surgery area.

We tried to find a doctor and saw no one, and wondered if we were in the right place and went back upstairs to the seventh floor.

In the doctor's office I recognized the doctor who had asked us questions about my dad's medical history and he told us to go down to the third floor. We said there was no one there, and he took us down and told us to stay here.

We were the only Han Chinese in the room, and it made us wonder what Uyghurs thought of us, thought they might have figured out we were not mainland Chinese.

Finally we heard a shrill voice calling our family name.

We rushed over to a small sliding window where a Han Chinese woman wearing a surgical mask gave us a form to sign. It already had my dad's signature on it (or what he could scrawl), but needed us to confirm we accepted the risks of the anesthetic due to his age.

"We are in surgery now! You can't leave! If there is a complication we may need to talk to you!" How reassuring.

There was no water fountain or toilet in this area, nothing. But the best part of this room was that it had wifi. So I used WeChat to communicate with other tour members and our tour guide to give them the latest updates. Our tour guide showed up and we hugged and I cried a bit. The guide was our rock and we were eternally grateful for the help and support.

Transferring dad back to his own bed

After a while the same woman called for us again -- we didn't hear her at first and a Uyghur man motioned for us to come back to the window. The woman with the surgical mask held out a kidney-shaped steel shallow pan that was full of dark blood.

She said the surgery was over and this was how much blood that was drained from my dad's head. I started taking pictures of it, and she encouraged me to do so; she added there were no complications. We now had to wait for him to wake up before taking him back to his room.

My mom and I were relieved the operation went smoothly and I reported this back to tour members. Being able to communicate on WeChat made me feel like we weren't completely cut off from the rest of the world.

It was another hour or so before dad was finally wheeled out of the surgery room. He was groggy but seemed fine. We got into the special elevator to the seventh floor and wheeled him back to his room.

Now we would have to see how long it would take for him to recover so we could get him back home as soon as possible.